OCR Text |
Show AFTER THE WAR. This story is often told, in and about Richmond, of an interview, said to have occurred just after Lee's surrender, between Secretary Stanton and Major Drewry, commander of Drewry's Bluff at the time of the attack upon it by the Union fleet in May, 1862. The Major, who had been a dry goods merchant in Richmond before the war, and who is a common-sense man of the world, knowing that all further resistance was in vain, went at once to Washington to see the Secretary of War. Very doubtful whether Stanton, always stern and usually overbearing, would see him, if he knew his name and mission, he went into the Secretary's private office unannounced. In his presence the ex-rebel, without any preamble, said, "Mr. Secretary, I am Major A. H. Drewry of Richmond. I have fought against the federals as well as I could for four years. But now the war is over, and I want to go to work again. I have hundreds of acres of wheat land on the James; they have been sadly neglected all the time, and they need my immediate attention. We've been whipped and I've got sense enough to know it. Now that peace has come, I want my pardon." "On what grounds?" inquired Stanton, severely. "First, on the grounds of having had fighting enough; secondly, because I had helped to improve your navy by showing you how poor wooden ships are in action. After I had driven off the Galena, Aroostock, and the other vessels, you began to build iron boats, and made your navy what it ought to have been at the start. You owe me a pardon for the valuable information I furnished to your cause." Stanton relaxed as the Major went on, and finally, pleased with his candor and boldness, invited him to call the next day at a certain hour. Drewry was prompt. The two had a long talk; the Secretary gained much information about the South, its condition and prospects, and handed the Virginian his pardon. The Major kept his word. He went to work immediately, and continued to work ever since without troubling himself about politics or political theories. If more of the Southerners had imitated his example, the South would be in far better condition than it is to-day. |